Northern California Native, Sacramento Zoo Volunteer

Daniel_Francois_Langur

Daniel_Francois_Langur

New Member
I am currently a senior in high school and a volunteer at the Sacramento Zoo. I plan to earn a Master's Degree in Biology in college, and I plan to attend college out in the Mid-West. Out of college, I hope to get a zookeeper job at either the Sacramento Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, or maybe even the Oakland Zoo. My dream is to one day work as a keeper in the San Diego, or possibly in the Australia Zoo. Any advice concerning my career path would be highly appreciated!
 
You are doing things exactly right - getting volunteer experience at a zoo and aiming for a master's in biology. That will surely put you on a career path in zoos which is a highly competitive field (far more than most people realize). I used to volunteer at a small (but AZA accredited) zoo in Arizona and staff told me that whenever they advertised a job opening for zookeeper they would get around one hundred applications from all across the country. And this is at a small zoo - large zoos I imagine get exponentially more applications. A bachelor's degree is the bare minimum these days to get a job at an accredited zoo. However having a master's will help set you apart from the competition. You may need to set your sights wider than just four specific zoos (the ones you listed). Since you are obviously willing to move then I would say take what you can get (assuming it sounds like a zoo that will make you happy). Another option to look into is one of the two community colleges in the country that have their own mini zoos on campus and offer an associate's degree in zookeeping. (Not saying to do this instead of a master's, I am saying maybe in addition to). Those two colleges are Moorpark College in California and Santa Fe College in Florida. I believe they have placement programs and I did speak with one keeper at San Diego that went through the Moorpark program.
 
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